Sports / Soccer
Peter Ndlovu unhappy
11 Jun 2013 at 02:41hrs | Views
ZIMBABWE football legend Peter Ndlovu has urged the Warriors to embrace the big defeat at the hands of Egypt as part of their tough learning exercise ahead of future assignments.
The senior national team is on the road this week for a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Guinea in Conakry.
The Warriors are expected to leave tomorrow as they look for solutions to their woeful performance in their last game which they lost to the Pharaohs 2-4 at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
Zimbabwe currently anchor the table with a single point from four starts while Egypt have edged closer to their World Cup dream by maintaining a five-point lead at the top of Group G with just two games remaining.
The North Africans have a 100 percent winning record in the group and are on 12 points with Guinea, who thrashed Mozambique 6-1 on Sunday, following in second place and have seven points to their credit.
Ndlovu conceded the Warriors came terribly short in front of the home crowd as they virtually gifted the Egyptians maximum points because of the numerous errors and failure to co-ordinate their game plan.
Zimbabwe could not repeat the fighting spirit they exhibited in Alexandria in the first leg in March in a battling 1-2 loss.
The Warriors, who are undergoing a rebuilding exercise under German coach Klaus Dieter Pagels, failed to stamp their authority on home turf as they could not challenge the Egyptians in all departments.
They looked hapless in the opposition territory and vulnerable at the back, with virtually all goals coming as a direct result of poor marking.
Egypt kept their composure as they seized control of the game as early as the fifth minute when they got their first goal through veteran midfielder Mohamed Aboutrika.
"It's difficult to understand," said Ndlovu.
"We disappointed our fans. If we had got beaten with hard work from Egypt we could have just accepted that but, I think, we gave away the game by making silly mistakes. We should have done better as a team.
"We take the blame as the technical team but the message was clear to the players to go and do simple things, of which we didn't apply ourselves right.
"We gave them the platform to play. They didn't work for their goals. It was something that any player could have marked the opponents but lack of concentration and maybe the application. We didn't do it properly.
"So we take the blame, we disappointed the fans, we are sorry but we are still rebuilding.
"When we had the ball we looked like a decent team but when we gave away the ball it was so bad.
Hopefully we can learn from what we have gone through.
"They taught us a lesson in punishing the people for their own mistakes but that's what you get if you don't apply yourself right. We will learn from that."
"We don't want to stop here. We still want to run our marathon and reach the finishing line," said Ndlovu.
"Things did not work well for us but we still want to complete our mission in fulfilling the fixtures and set the plan for the future."
The senior national team is on the road this week for a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Guinea in Conakry.
The Warriors are expected to leave tomorrow as they look for solutions to their woeful performance in their last game which they lost to the Pharaohs 2-4 at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
Zimbabwe currently anchor the table with a single point from four starts while Egypt have edged closer to their World Cup dream by maintaining a five-point lead at the top of Group G with just two games remaining.
The North Africans have a 100 percent winning record in the group and are on 12 points with Guinea, who thrashed Mozambique 6-1 on Sunday, following in second place and have seven points to their credit.
Ndlovu conceded the Warriors came terribly short in front of the home crowd as they virtually gifted the Egyptians maximum points because of the numerous errors and failure to co-ordinate their game plan.
Zimbabwe could not repeat the fighting spirit they exhibited in Alexandria in the first leg in March in a battling 1-2 loss.
The Warriors, who are undergoing a rebuilding exercise under German coach Klaus Dieter Pagels, failed to stamp their authority on home turf as they could not challenge the Egyptians in all departments.
They looked hapless in the opposition territory and vulnerable at the back, with virtually all goals coming as a direct result of poor marking.
Egypt kept their composure as they seized control of the game as early as the fifth minute when they got their first goal through veteran midfielder Mohamed Aboutrika.
"It's difficult to understand," said Ndlovu.
"We disappointed our fans. If we had got beaten with hard work from Egypt we could have just accepted that but, I think, we gave away the game by making silly mistakes. We should have done better as a team.
"We take the blame as the technical team but the message was clear to the players to go and do simple things, of which we didn't apply ourselves right.
"We gave them the platform to play. They didn't work for their goals. It was something that any player could have marked the opponents but lack of concentration and maybe the application. We didn't do it properly.
"So we take the blame, we disappointed the fans, we are sorry but we are still rebuilding.
"When we had the ball we looked like a decent team but when we gave away the ball it was so bad.
Hopefully we can learn from what we have gone through.
"They taught us a lesson in punishing the people for their own mistakes but that's what you get if you don't apply yourself right. We will learn from that."
"We don't want to stop here. We still want to run our marathon and reach the finishing line," said Ndlovu.
"Things did not work well for us but we still want to complete our mission in fulfilling the fixtures and set the plan for the future."
Source - The Herald
